181Lesson 8, Working with Symbols What you’ll learn in this lesson: Creating and • editing symbols Importing a • symbol library Using the • symbolism tools Editing nested symbols• Saving symbol libraries• Working with Symbols Symbols make it easy to repeatedly use objects throughout an Illustrator project and even across multiple documents. Symbols can be imported, transformed, colored, and edited with the tools built into the Symbols panel, which you will discover in this lesson. Illustrator includes several symbol libraries for you to use, and also makes it easy for you to create. Starting up Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your workspace. See “Resetting Adobe Illustrator CS4 Preferences” on page 3. You will work with several  les from the ai08lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have loaded the ailessons folder onto your hard drive from the supplied DVD. See “Loading lesson  les” on page 4. Lesson 8 AICS4.indb 181AICS4.indb 181 11/25/2008 3:23:00 PM11/25/2008 3:23:00 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 182 Cleaning out the symbol library Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 8 See Lesson 8 in action! Use the accompanying video to gain a better understanding of how to use some of the features shown in this lesson. The video tutorial for this lesson can be found on the included DVD. Cleaning out the symbol library When you create a new Illustrator document, the Symbols panel is automatically populated with a group of default symbols. These symbols are useful for certain applications, but not for the purposes of this lesson, so you will remove them and import a group of symbols provided in the ai08lessons folder. 1 In Adobe Illustrator CS4, choose File > Open. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the ai08lessons folder and select the ai0801.ai  le. Press Open. This Illustrator  le contains a logo that you will use to create and modify a group of symbols. 2 Once the  le opens, press the Symbols button ( ) in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Symbols panel. Click to select the  rst symbol in the panel, a red sphere. Select the  rst symbol in the Symbols panel. 3 While holding the Shift key, click on the last symbol listed in the panel, a magnifying glass. This also selects all the symbols between the  rst and last options. Shift+clicking the last symbol selects all the symbols between the  rst and last symbols. 4 Press the Delete Symbol button ( ) in the lower-right corner of the Symbols panel to delete the default symbol library. A dialog box appears, asking you to con rm that you want to delete the selected symbols. Press Yes. 8 AICS4.indb 182AICS4.indb 182 11/25/2008 3:23:11 PM11/25/2008 3:23:11 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Creating symbols 183Lesson 8, Working with Symbols 8 5 Choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, name the  le ai0801_work.ai and press Save. When the Illustrator Options dialog box appears, press OK. Keep the  le open for the next part of the lesson. Creating symbols Once you have cleaned out the symbol library, you can begin to populate it with your own creations. You can make symbols from any piece of art that you create in Illustrator, and even from embedded bitmap graphics. The only limitation is that you can’t use linked graphics to create symbols. You have to embed them in order to create a symbol from them. 1 Use the Selection tool ( ) to select the FlyAway logo with the double (white/black) outline in the document. Drag and drop it into the now-empty Symbols panel. The Symbol Options dialog box appears. Turn the Fly Away logo into a symbol by dragging it into the Symbols panel. 2 In the Symbol Options dialog box, type Fly Away Logo in the Name text  eld. Select the Movie Clip radio button, and click on the center point of the Flash Registration bounding box. Press OK. Determine the settings for the new symbol. AICS4.indb 183AICS4.indb 183 11/25/2008 3:23:19 PM11/25/2008 3:23:19 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 184 Editing symbols Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 8 With the exception of the symbol name text  eld, the options in this dialog box deal with how the symbol will be treated if imported into Flash. The logo is now a symbol in your library, and the occurrence of the logo on the artboard is called a symbol instance. There is a parent-child relationship between the symbol in the library and its instances on the artboard. Any change to the parent, or master, symbol in your library cascades down to the children, or instances, on your artboard. Editing symbols The logo symbol that you have is not bad, but it is a good idea to test out various color combinations before settling on a  nal one. In order to experiment with variations of the symbol you have created, you will add a new symbol instance to the artboard, make it editable, modify it, and use it to create a new symbol. 1 From the Symbols panel, drag the logo symbol onto the artboard, creating an instance somewhere away from the other graphics that are already in the document. 2 Click the Break Link button located at the top of your screen in the Control panel. This pr ocess, called expanding, breaks the link of the instance to the parent and makes the instance fully editable. Break the symbol instance’s link to the master symbol to make the instance editable. 3 With the logo still selected, choose Object > Ungroup. When the symbol was expanded, it was automatically converted to a grouped object; ungrouping it allows you to edit the strokes around the text. 4 With the logo still selected, click on the Appearance button ( ) in the dock to open the Appearance panel. The Appearance panel tells you that you are working with a compound path that has a black  ll color and two strokes, one white and one black, applied to it. The Appearance panel details the selected symbol’s components. AICS4.indb 184AICS4.indb 184 11/25/2008 3:23:22 PM11/25/2008 3:23:22 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Importing a symbol library 185Lesson 8, Working with Symbols 8 5 In the Appearance panel, click on the second listing, the white, 3-point outside stroke, to edit it. By selecting this listing, you’ve activated the color panel and stroke setting, both of which you can access and use to implement changes directly from the Appearance panel. 6 Click the Stroke color swatch next to the Stroke listing, and from the resulting Swatches panel, select the swatch named RGB Yellow. The Appearance panel updates to The stroke is now yellow. re ect the change in the stroke’s color. 7 Press the Symbols button ( ) in the dock to reopen the Symbols panel. Using the Selection tool ( ), click and drag the new logo from the artboard to the Symbols panel. 8 In the resulting Symbol Options dialog box, type Fly Away logo yellow in the Name text  eld. Choose the Movie Clip radio button and select the center of the Flash Registration bounding box. Press OK. You have just created another new symbol. Name this symbol Fly Away logo yellow. 9 Choose File > Save to save your work. AICS4.indb 185AICS4.indb 185 11/25/2008 3:23:29 PM11/25/2008 3:23:29 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 186 Importing a symbol library Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 8 Importing a symbol library Symbols can be imported either from dedicated symbol libraries or regular Adobe Illustrator  les. This is done from the Symbols panel menu. 1 In the upper-right corner of the Symbols panel, click on the panel menu button ( ). From the menu that appears, choose Open Symbol Library > Other Library. Choose Open Symbol Library > Other Library from the Symbols panel menu. 2 In the Select a Library to Open dialog box, navigate to the ai08lessons folder and select the butter ies.ai  le. Press Open. A new panel named Butter ies appears in the workspace. A new butter ies panel full of butter y symbols appears in your document. AICS4.indb 186AICS4.indb 186 11/25/2008 3:23:33 PM11/25/2008 3:23:33 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Using the symbolism tools 187Lesson 8, Working with Symbols 8 Symbol libraries are saved in the native .ai format. If you want to edit a library, all you need to do is open the  le, add or remove content there, then resave the  le over itself. External libraries like the one you just imported are not editable in your local document. For this reason, you must move the library contents into your Symbols panel. 3 Make sure that both the Butter ies Library panel and the Symbols panel are visible at the same time. In the Butter ies Library panel, Shift+click the  rst and last butter ies to select the panel’s entire contents. Select all the butter ies in the library. 4 Drag the selected contents from the butter ies library to the Symbols panel. Once they are in the Symbols panel, they are treated exactly like the symbols you created locally. Drag the symbols from the butter ies panel to the Symbols panel. 5 Close the butter ies library, then choose File > Save to save your work. AICS4.indb 187AICS4.indb 187 11/25/2008 3:23:36 PM11/25/2008 3:23:36 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 188 Using the symbolism tools Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 8 Using the symbolism tools As you have already seen, you can work with symbols by manually dragging them from the Symbols panel. Once they are on your artboard, you can move, rotate, and scale them individually using tools designed speci cally for working with symbols. Now you will use these tools to add and manipulate symbols to create a new logo. The symbolism tools allow you to create sets of symbol instances and then transform and edit them. ICON TOOL NAME USE Symbol Sprayer The Symbol Sprayer tool can place multiple symbol instances, also known as a symbol set, on the artboard at once in a fashion like that of a spray paint can. You can edit symbol sets using the other symbolism tools. Symbol Shifter The Symbol Shifter tool moves symbol instances. Symbol Scruncher The Symbol Scruncher tool moves instances in a symbol set closer together or farther apart. Symbol Sizer The Symbol Sizer tool makes symbols in a set larger or smaller. Symbol Spinner The Symbol Spinner tool rotates symbols in a set. Symbol Stainer The Symbol Stainer tool colorizes symbols in a set. Symbol Screener The Symbol Screener tool adjusts the opacity of symbols. Symbol Styler The Symbol Styler tool is used to apply a style from the Graphic Styles panel to symbol instances. 1 Open the Layers panel by choosing Window > Layers, or pressing the Layers button ( ) in the dock on the right side of the workspace. 2 So far in this lesson, you have been working on Layer 1, the default layer. Press the Cr eate New Layer button ( ) at the bottom of the Layers panel. This creates Layer 2. Create a new layer in the Layers panel. AICS4.indb 188AICS4.indb 188 11/25/2008 3:23:41 PM11/25/2008 3:23:41 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Using the symbolism tools 189Lesson 8, Working with Symbols 8 3 Double-click Layer 2 in the Layers panel to open the Layer Options dialog box. In the Name  eld, type Logo. Leave all the other settings at their defaults and press OK. Rename the layer. 4 Click on the Visibility icon ( ) to the left of Layer 1 in the Layers panel to toggle o the layer’s visibility. The document appears to be empty. 5 Open the Symbols panel by clicking on its icon ( ) in the dock. Drag an instance of the Fly Away logo yellow symbol onto your artboard, then press Shift+Ctrl+A (Windows) or Shift+Command+A (Mac OS) to deselect the symbol instance. If you are not sure which symbol listed in the Symbols panel is the yellow logo, hold your cursor over each symbol and a tooltip appears with the symbol’s name. 6 Click and hold the Symbol Sprayer button ( ) in the Tools panel to view all eight available symbolism tools. To the right of the list of symbolism tools is a small black arrow. Click on the arrow to tear o these tools and turn them into a  oating Symbolism Tools panel. Click on the black arrow to the right of the list of symbol tools to turn them into their own  oating panel. AICS4.indb 189AICS4.indb 189 11/25/2008 3:23:51 PM11/25/2008 3:23:51 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 190 Using the symbolism tools Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 8 7 Double-click the Symbol Sprayer tool in the  oating panel; this opens the Symbolism Tool Options dialog box. Change the intensity value to 3, either by typing 3 into the text  eld or clicking the arrow to the right of the text  eld and adjusting the slider to 3. The intensity value speci es the rate at which the symbol sprayer creates symbols. Leave all other values at their defaults and press OK. Use the Symbol Sprayer tool to create a butter y symbol set. The symbolism tools all share a common options dialog box. The area at the top of the dialog box allows you to change the overall parameters of the brush that the tools use, while the  eld at the bottom of the dialog box allows you to view and edit the parameters of each individual tool. 8 In the Symbols panel, select the butter y symbol named butter y_03. Move your cursor, which now resembles a miniature spray paint can with a circular perimeter surrounding it. Click and drag from above and to the left of the logo symbol in a sweeping circle around it. This creates a symbol set of multiple butter ies. Use the Symbol Sprayer tool to create a butter y symbol set. AICS4.indb 190AICS4.indb 190 11/25/2008 3:24:00 PM11/25/2008 3:24:00 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com [...]... folder and type ai0901_work.ai in the Name text field Press Save The Illustrator Options dialog box appears Leave the settings at their defaults and press OK You will be applying different effects to the same text in order to compare the results The file contains a few example logos 198 AICS4.indb 198 Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:24:51 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered... in the Control panel b When a symbol is highlighted and you click on a new parent symbol in the Symbols panel, the Replace Symbol option is available in the Symbol panel menu 196 AICS4.indb 196 Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:24:38 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Lesson 9 What you’ll learn in this lesson: • Applying effects using the Appearance... consistent by resetting your workspace See “Resetting Adobe Illustrator CS4 Preferences” on page 3 You will work with several files from the ai09lessons folder in this lesson Make sure that you have loaded the ailessons folder onto your hard drive from the supplied DVD See “Loading lesson files” on page 4 Lesson 9, Using Effects and Transparency AICS4.indb 1 97 1 97 11/25/2008 3:24:39 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split... so that they appear as if they are all flying along the same path around the logo Use the Symbol Spinner tool to set the butterflies flying on the same path around the logo 192 AICS4.indb 192 Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:24:12 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Editing nested symbols 8 13 Activate the Symbol Shifter tool again Click and... the path of the hexagon), and indented below are Stroke, Fill, and Scribble These three attributes apply to the path.You will now apply the Scribble effect to the fill only 200 AICS4.indb 200 Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:24:59 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Working with the Appearance panel and effects 5 9 In the Appearance panel,... curves are relative to each other Spacing controls the amount of space between scribble line folds Spacing Variation controls the amount of space between scribble line folds 202 AICS4.indb 202 Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:25:08 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Working with the Appearance panel and effects 9 Using graphic styles In the... Fill attribute and click on the built-in color swatch to see the color options Select the yellow swatch in the top row Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:25:14 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Working with object transparency 7 9 Press the Graphic Styles button in the dock to open the Graphic Styles panel Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click... panel 6 206 AICS4.indb 206 Click inside the Opacity text field and press the up arrow on your keyboard The opacity value begins to increase by 1 percent increments Stop when you reach 50 percent Press and hold down the Shift key and press the up arrow; the value now increases by 10 percent Stop increasing the value when you get to 100 percent, the original opacity Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom. .. the Transparency panel Choose Darken from the Blending mode drop-down menu The hexagon blends with the background behind it Choose Darken from the Blending mode drop-down menu 208 AICS4.indb 208 Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:25:26 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Saving and importing graphic styles 9 Understanding blending modes is easier... automatically selected Press the Click to Target button to target and thus apply attributes to the entire layer 2 210 AICS4.indb 210 Select the VM Style Yellow Outline style from the ai0901_styles panel All three objects now have the same style applied to them Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 11/25/2008 3:25:32 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com Self study . symbol. AICS4.indb 183AICS4.indb 183 11/25/2008 3:23:19 PM11/25/2008 3:23:19 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 184 Editing symbols Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital. work. AICS4.indb 187AICS4.indb 1 87 11/25/2008 3:23:36 PM11/25/2008 3:23:36 PM Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com 188 Using the symbolism tools Adobe Illustrator. http://www.simpopdf.com 200 Working with the Appearance panel and effects Adobe Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom 9 2 Choose the E ect menu at the top of the workspace, and in the Illustrator E ects portion of the drop-down